Recommended Posts

Yesterday was a light mail day. There was one piece of mail with the return address of Warren, MI. I knew immediately it was from Asset Acceptance.

Let's go back in time to talk about my experience in dealing with them so you can see how this started, and now, how it has ended (spoiler alert: I didn't pay them anything).

About 3 years ago I began receiving calls from them. I was excited to see BoA sell it off to them, as debt buyers are pretty easy to beat up on in court. I fired off a letter that disputed the debt in its entirety, and I demanded proof thereof. It was one of those 2 sentence letters, taught by Coltfan.

The debt disappeared. The request sent the credit report trade line into disputed status and it sat. After about 5 months, a letter detailing a few odds and ends about my account charge off date, my personal information, and a lowly account statement showed up. It was back on.

Asset didn't seem to take too well to my dispute, and as such, I received a dunning letter from their attorneys at Fulton, Friedman and Gullace the same week I received their validation response. I had a consumer attorney send FFG a validation letter. And again, I waited.

Using the attorney worked very well. FFG never responded to the validation request, instead sending the file back to Asset. What is interesting, however, is that when other posters from this site used the same validation letter (sans attorney letterhead), they were all sued. Perhaps FFG knew it was fruitless endeavor and a loser, but alas, I'll never find out.

The offer letters came in. Settlement amounts starting at 45%, which then became 55%. Last months discount rose to 75%. This months offer stayed at 75%, but included the following language in the letter:

"The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, we will not sue you for it. If you do not pay the debt, me may continue to report it to the credit reporting agencies as unpaid."

So there it is. Happy Statute of Limitations birthday to me. On Monday, I'm going to send them one last letter: Dear Asset, I refuse to pay, don't ever contact me again.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Using the attorney worked very well. FFG never responded to the validation request, instead sending the file back to Asset. What is interesting, however, is that when other posters from this site used the same validation letter (sans attorney letterhead), they were all sued. Perhaps FFG knew it was fruitless endeavor and a loser, but alas, I'll never find out.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

The offer letters came in. Settlement amounts starting at 45%, which then became 55%. Last months discount rose to 75%. This months offer stayed at 75%, but included the following language in the letter:

"The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, we will not sue you for it. If you do not pay the debt, me may continue to report it to the credit reporting agencies as unpaid."

I have been getting settlement "offers" with the exact same disclaimer wording from Midland for awhile now.

Link to post

Share on other sites

1692c: CEASING COMMUNICATION. If a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay a debt or that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer, the debt collector shall not communicate further with the consumer with respect to such debt...........

So a letter saying, "I refuse to pay" triggers the duty to cease communications on its own. If the debt collector calls after receiving such a letter, it has violated the FDCPA.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

1692c: CEASING COMMUNICATION. If a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay a debt or that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer, the debt collector shall not communicate further with the consumer with respect to such debt...........

So a letter saying, "I refuse to pay" triggers the duty to cease communications on its own. If the debt collector calls after receiving such a letter, it has violated the FDCPA.

I will be sending such a note to Midland next time I receive another offer to settle.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

1692c: CEASING COMMUNICATION. If a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay a debt or that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer, the debt collector shall not communicate further with the consumer with respect to such debt...........

So a letter saying, "I refuse to pay" triggers the duty to cease communications on its own. If the debt collector calls after receiving such a letter, it has violated the FDCPA.

PROHIBITION AGAINST DECEPTIVELY COLLECTING TIME-BARRED DEBTIT IS FURTHER ORDERED that:

133. Encore, Encore's officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and all other persons in active concert or participation with any of them, who receive actual notice of this Consent Order, whether acting directly or indirectly, are permanently restrained and prohibited from:

a. Collecting or attempting to collect any Time-Barred Debt through litigation or arbitration; b. Collecting or attempting to collect any Time-Barred Debt through any means, including but not limited to telephone calls and written communications, without clearly and prominently disclosing to the Consumer: i. for those Consumer accounts where the Debt is Time-Barred and generally cannot be included in a Consumer report under the provisions ofthe FCRA, 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a), but can be collected through other means pursuant to applicable state law, Encore will include the following statement: "The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt and how long a debt can appear on your credit report. Due to the age of this debt, we will not sue you for it or report payment or non-payment of it to a credit bureau;" and ii. for those Consumer accounts where the Debt is Time-Barred but can be collected through other means pursuant to applicable state law, and may be included in a Consumer report under the provisions of the FCRA, 5 U.S.C. § 1681c(a), Encore will include the following statement: "The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, we will not sue you for it."Provided, however, that with regard to telephonic communications, Encore is not required to make either disclosure to any individual person more than once per 30 day period. c. Making any representation or statement, or taking any other action that interferes with, detracts from, contradicts, or otherwise undermines the disclosures required in Paragraph ( b ) of this Section. Encore will be deemed to have complied with the disclosure requirements of this Paragraph if it makes a disclosure to Consumers in a specific jurisdiction that (i) is required by the laws or regulations of that jurisdiction, (ii) complies with those laws or regulations, and (iii) is substantially similar to the disclosure required by this Paragraph.